On 21 November 2024, the Embassy of Ukraine in collaboration with the Polish Institute organised an event to commemorate 1,000 days of Ukraine’s resistance to ongoing Russian aggression.
The event took place at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia in New Delhi. The evening featured a photography exhibition ‘Timeline of War’ featuring unique works of 30 prominent artists. There was also a screening of the film ‘In the Rearview’ (2023) directed by Maciek Hamela.

The screening was followed by a discussion with the film’s director present online moderated by prominent Indian filmmaker Ms. Ayesha Sood.

About the movie:

“In the Rearview” is an authentic, intimate observation of war as it unfolds, following multiple generations of Ukrainian civilians as they abruptly abandon their homes and rely on the help of director Maciek Hamela’s volunteer aid van to escape the life-threatening conflict. As he steers through minefields to leave Ukraine and tries to get through numerous military checkpoints, Hamela offers us a seat in his car, guiding the documentary from behind the wheel and behind the camera, crisscrossing the roads of Ukraine to transport uprooted refugees safely to Poland. The van traverses tens of thousands of kilometers and serves as a waiting room, hospital, shelter, and zone for confidences and confessions among compatriots thrown together by chance.

I’n the Rearview’ is a collective portrait composed of an array of experiences of Ukrainians who share a single goal: finding a safe haven in the throes of conflict. 

The film won 30 international awards at such festivals as the Chicago International Film Festival 2023; Hamburg Film Festival 2023; Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2024; Zurich Film Festival 2023; Cinécran – Rencontres du Cinéma Européen à Vannes 2024 and many more.

Photo by Filip Wolski

Maciek Hamela is a film and radio producer, director, scriptwriter. Born in Warsaw, Poland, he received a master’s degree from Sorbonne University (Paris IV) in French literature. Worked in renovations and as a tour guide, while studying film directing at École Internationale de Création Audiovisuelle et de Réalisation (EICAR). He is a longtime BBC Channel collaborator. A co-creator and a producer of a documentary short film ‘Bless You’, for which he received a Doc Alliance Award within the Cannes Docs program (Cannes FF 2021), the short was also presented at Millennium Docs Against Gravity FF. He produced films such as ‘Convictions’ (MDR Film Prize for an outstanding Eastern European documentary film at Dok Leipzig IFF 2016), ‘Gatherers of Sea Grass’, ‘Polonaise or Parquet. Being a director and a producer of various radio works he has received the Silver Melchior Radio Award for the Premiere of the Year 2018 in the Polish Radio Reporters National Competition. He produced and co-directed Plan B, a documentary podcast series for Audioteka.